House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, taking a position one top Republican called “an obscene moral equivalency.”
Pelosi’s statement aligned congressional Democratic leaders with President Joe Biden, who called for a ceasefire Monday.
The California Democrat called Israel “our friend and ally in the Middle East with whom we have shared values” and said it had a right to defend itself against the 3,000 rockets fired by Hamas.
BIDEN ‘EXPRESSED HIS SUPPORT’ FOR ISRAEL-HAMAS CEASEFIRE DIRECTLY TO NETANYAHU
“Now, after more than a week of hostilities, it has become even more apparent that a ceasefire is necessary,” Pelosi said. “There must be a serious effort on the part of both parties to end the violence and respect the rights of both the Israeli and Palestinian people.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said he agreed with a call for a ceasefire.
Most Republicans reject the ceasefire demand because it suggests the two sides are equally to blame.
Israel began firing missiles after Hamas launched a barrage of rocket attacks against Israel following a land dispute.
Republicans are calling on Congress and Biden to stand fully behind Israel and against the Hamas attacks and tactics of employing human shields against Israeli retaliatory attacks.
On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell delivered a broadside against Senate Democrats who called for a ceasefire and others who criticized Israel’s retaliatory attacks, which have killed civilians and children.
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McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, accused Democrats in a floor speech of “pushing the false narrative that this conflict is a tragic dispute between two legitimate combatants, where both sides share blame, but is roughly equal.”
McConnell called such a view “nonsense” and “an obscene moral equivalence.”
